It's cold out

We had snow early last week, none of which melted before a new layer was laid down Friday and Saturday.The outdoor catwater is frozen.

The yard doesn't need mowing this weekend, thank goodness.
Here comes Natalie!

The azaleas are quite covered.

Where are the others? Is it time to go play?

Are you kidding?

Bandersnatch prefers to appreciate the snow from right side of the window.

Sienne doesn't appreciate the snow at all, preferring to nestle in the snowy-white comforter.

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Friday Photo Shoot Out: Fences

This week's My Town Shootout theme is Fences.
There's a lot of potential with this topic, but I just didn't have the fortitude to get out and collect photos in the cold last weekend, and weekdays, well, are just impossible.

So this is my backyard. The vegetable patch has a little wire fence, just to show where the edges are. On the lawn side I don't mow too close because that's where irises and tulips and etc are planted.

The fence separating my yard from one of the neighbors.

The back fence is often covered with climbing weeds in the summer.
I try to keep that in check, but I'll never have the manicured lawn that they do.

The front fence keeping my car from escaping. Well, if I had a car and I wanted to mess with this gate every day instead of using the parking space on the street, that's what it would do. I think I even know where the key is.
My neighbor's fence is new. They just finished constructing the house last year.

From the archives of my other town, there's a fence at Torrey Pines that keeps people away from the fragile cliff-edges. Well, it may keep some of them away - there are plenty of footprints on the wrong side.

An ex-fence in a stream.

And a fence to tell the cows where to eat and where not to eat.

That's all, folks! To visit the other Shootout participants this week, click here.

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Zebras on Thursday

Today's guest Zebra is....

Lilly!

What? Still not a real zebra? 4-legged black and white animal not enough; it has to be a striped eater of grass?

Hmm. Maybe next week.

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Teaching creation in schools

I’m all for it.
Yes, yes, I fully encourage every school in the nation, in the world, to teach what Christians believe about how we came to be here. It should be right there next to the Judaism’s take on it (should be the same, as it’s Old Testament stuff), Islam’s, Shinto’s, Buddhism’s, etc, etc, etc.
This will of course be a Comparative Religions class, where we learn about all the different faiths of the world, and what it actually is that they believe. Incredible how many people have no idea (and less interest) what their neighbor’s faith is based on. With a little understanding, things might work a lot better.

Just leave it out of the science curriculum.

New Year's thoughts

It was the Totalfeckineejit’s idea to light a candle at noon on New Year’s Day, and to make a list of the people we’re thinking of.

And since I’m spending this Jan 1 on my own, just me and the cats, I’m pretty sure not to see anybody at all but only to think of them.
I might see the bus driver. There will be a bus driver; and people like her (or him, more likely; it’s usually guys on holidays) who work when everybody else is taking the day off are worthy of some thought. And thanks. And extra pay. This driver gets to spend hours and hours driving around town in a nearly empty bus, probably nobody to talk to. To her, it might not seem worth it. All that gas just to take one person across town. But those of us who want to get across town and don’t have a car to do it in and don’t have legs that will take us so far in this windy cold; we’re very grateful that the bus driver is on the job.

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So I’m thinking of the bus driver, and when I see one, I’ll be sure to pause and say hello and Happy New Year and Bonne Année.

I’m thinking of my family, wondering what they’re up to on this January day. I hope my parents will be in good health for 2010, after some bumps and rattles in 2008-9. They’re not as young as they used to be (hey, when they were my age I thought they were old, this is all so relative), but they’re in good shape. They pay attention, and they get around.
I hope my brothers and my sister-in-law and my nieces have a happy and prosperous year. Life can be so unstable, and the crisis has certainly taken its toll. The kids are getting on in school - this year I should start writing to them directly instead of through their mom. I only see them once in two years or so, and it takes an effort to keep ties.

Then I’m thinking of Paul Theroux. The traveler. I just finished his ‘Ghost Train to the Eastern Star’, and marveled at his ease in meeting people. Everywhere he goes, he says hello. Looks people up. Gets to know the person next to him on the train or the bus or the plane or just hanging around.
When I travel, often alone, as he is, I notice a lot of things and I walk all around town and around the countryside, and I prefer the train from point to point, to see what’s in between. But I rarely meet people. I tend to stay in my bubble, isolated. I don’t like to talk to strangers, and when I make an effort, it usually fizzles out in a few minutes. I was thinking of that while waiting for the bus home from grocery shopping on Saturday, loaded with cat litter. The other woman waiting wanted to chat, and I tried but, honestly, I just wasn’t interested. I couldn’t think of any next thing to say, beyond turning her own questions around. And what do you do...? Have you lived here for long...? See your family for Christmas...?

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So I continue to think about Paul Theroux, and to wonder how he does it, and if maybe with practice I could do that too. For the past couple of years, I’ve been trying. When I travel I try to be more accessible to people, to say more than just hello, and I’ll have the chicken. I’ve been mindful of taking pictures with people in them. Usually I target landscapes and city details, and wait for passersby to get out of the way. So I’ve been trying to add a little more humanity to my photographs - why photograph just the buildings of a town? The people make the town...!

Click on over to TFE's blog to see others raising a glass and lighting a candle and having a thought.

Happy 2010 to one and all!

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